HP Is First Vendor To Complete Comprehensive Measurements For SAP's ALE Technology; HP demonstrates UNIX system and Windows NT platforms here at CeBIT through 20th March, Hall 1, 7i2/K1

Business Wire, March 14, 1996

HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 1996-- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced that it is the first vendor to complete comprehensive measurements for SAP's ALE (Application Link Enabling) technology. This achievement, announced here at CeBIT, builds the basis for HP's capacity sizing model for ALE.

ALE, which was launched with SAP's System R/3 Release 3.0 in September, enables customers to establish business processes between technically independent SAP R/3 Systems consisting of a variety of platforms, databases, R/3 releases and third-party applications.

The measurements were conducted jointly by SAP and HP at the SAP-HP Competence Center in Walldorf, Germany, using an HP 9000 K-Class server running HP-UX(1) as the host system connected to two HP NetServer LS servers running Microsoft(R) Windows NT and SAP R/3 Release 3.0B application software with an Oracle database. These systems were used to simulate a headquarter, sales and production system connected via an 64K/19.2K line.

As demonstrated at the CeBIT exhibition, HP also allows R/3 customers to combine the HP-UX database layer and Windows NT application layer -- providing a single-vendor solution with a single point of service and support for UNIX(R) systems and Windows NT.

The jointly conducted measurements prove the scalability of the underlying IT architecture, its overall performance and the stability of the distributed SAP R/3 environment. The tests also measured ALE resource consumption; throughput characteristics; and various performance indicators, such as IDOC packaging and sending frequency. In addition, short-term network failures were tested, with the result that the systems were recovered without manual intervention.

"This is a very important development in our relationship with SAP as we become customers' best choice for implementing SAP's new ALE technology," said Andreas Drescher, HP's global business manager for SAP. "This milestone builds on our track record as SAP's technology and implementation partner and HP's leading 45 percent share of R/3 licenses worldwide. We believe that our expertise and experience in the open-systems and PC markets, plus our extensive relationship with SAP, position us as the leading R/3 partner for open, distributed-computing environments."

Heinz-Ulrich Roggenkemper, SAP's ALE development director, said, "These measurements are a significant extension of the successful and long-standing research and development relationship that SAP and HP have enjoyed over a number of years now. ALE is an important component of our product strategy to customers, and we are delighted with the results."

ABOUT HP'S UNIX SYSTEM AND WINDOWS NT PLATFORMS

The HP 9000 server family, which is based on HP's industry-leading HP-UX enterprise-class operating environment and PA-RISC(2) technology, provides the high-performance and systems-management capabilities required by data-center environments, as well as the flexibility and performance necessary for client/server implementations. HP is the industry leader in providing complete commercial UNIX system business solutions to customers in a broad range of industries.

HP NetServer PC servers are award-winning computer solutions for today's demanding computing environment. The HP NetServer LS server, which recently won the Editor's Choice award from PC Magazine, is a quad-processor, 5/133 model that is an affordable, high-performance system. All HP NetServer PCs have built-in availability features, such as hot-swappable hard-disk drives and error-correcting memory. HP NetServer PCs also are very easy to manage.

ABOUT SAP R/3 AND ALE

Application Link Enabling (ALE) technology opens up new perspectives for information management, using business-process-oriented communication to link departments, companies, locations and applications. ALE makes it possible to create and run distributed business networks of loosely coupled applications, thereby allowing business transactions to be processed in local systems.

SAP provides flexible, integrated client/server- and mainframe-based business applications that are compatible with most popular hardware, software and database platforms. SAP systems manage comprehensive financial, manufacturing, sales and human-resource requirements.

Founded in 1972, SAP AG has grown to become one of the largest independent software companies in the world and is a market leader in standard business software applications. The company, which is headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, now employs over 7,000 people. In addition to SAP in Walldorf, Germany, the company is represented globally by 28 subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as by 6 SAP partner companies. With its standard systems, R/2 for mainframes and R/3 for client/server platforms, SAP serves over 5,000 customers in over 50 different countries.

HP is the second-largest computer supplier in the United States, with computer-related revenue in excess of $25.3 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 105,200 employees and had revenue of $31.5 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.